Street-car heater



G. B. KEEPER.

Patented March 22,1881.

Street Car Heater.

F1 (7' l a I IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII (No Model.)

Inv en 01" M FIG- Maw

u'Sl-btest FIG-.8.

UNI-TED STATES PATENT FFlCE.

GEORGE B. KEEPER, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

STREET-CAR H EATER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 239,257, dated March 22, 1881. Application filed December 2,1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE B. KEEPER, of Cincinnati, Hamilton county, Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Street-Car Heaters, of which the following is a specification.-

This isa-n improvement on the apparatus seen in Letters Patent N o. 227 ,345, granted to me as the assignee of George C. Bovey, May 11, 1880, and the object of the present inventiouis to dispose the heater in such a manner as to render it more efiective in warming the passengers. This result is accomplished by removing the front door of the car and inserting in its place astout partition, to which the heater is secured in such a manner as to be situated partially within the car and partially outside of the same, the projecting portion of the apparatus being located on the front platform, in order that the driver may have ready access to the feed-door and register. The heater is attached to the partition by means of sheet-metal jackets surrounding the apparatus, and also by suitable hangers and feet secured to the frame and platform of the car, as hereinafter more fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the annexed drawings, Figure l is a longitudinal section through the front portion of a street-ear provided with my heater. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the car, taken in the rear of the heater. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the apparatus. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section through the car at the line 6 6. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section of a portion of the heater.

Arepresents a portion of the body of a streetcar; B B, the seats, and C the front platform, of the same.

D represents the frame of the front door, which door is removed and a stout partition, E, is secured in its place in said frame, said partition having a suitable opening out in it to receive the heater, the construction of which device is as follows:

The feed-door F, furnace G, dome I, ash-pit J, hot-air chamber K, and register M are arranged in the same manner as seen in the pat ent previously alluded to; but in the present construction the internal partition, H, described in said patent is dispensed with, al-

though it may be used, if desired. The hot air chamber surrounds the back and both sides of the furnace, and may receive its supply of fresh air through openings L in the front of the heater, as seen in Fig. 3, or through aslot, N, in the bottom of the apparatus, as represented in Fig. 5; or an inlet, 0, may be made near the bottom of the rear jacket,T, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, which opening will cause the heater to draw the cold air awayfrom the floor of the car and send it back warmed to an agreeable temperature. Thetop of the hot-airchamher is pierced with one or more slots or other outlets, P. The protruding portion of the heater is surrounded with a sheet-metal jacket, that slopes upwardly at R, and, after being passed through the opening in partition E, is nailed to the latter at r. Furthermore, this jacket has two vertical wings, S S, that inclose the sides of the heater and are attached to the front of the partition ate 8. That portion of the heater situated within the ear is inclosed with a sheet-metal jacket, T, having wings U U, secured at a a to the rear side of said partition.

V is the ventage at thejunction of the two jackets, through which opening the warm air is discharged into the car, and, if preferred, the rear jacket, T, may be perforated at t, to facilitate this discharge.

W W are hangers attached to the doorframe D, and then carried down and hooked under the bottom flange of the heater.

X X are legs or feet attached to the exposed portion of the heater and bolted to the front platform.

Q is the ash-pan.

The smoke-pipe Y is attached to the dome I, and is carried back through the jacket T, thence vertically at Y, and is again bent so as to pass horizontally through the partition at Y, and finally escapes through the roof of the car at Y, the horizontal portion Y being turned either to the right or left, so as to avoid the bell and straps, which latter run through the slot to. (See Fig.2.) By curving the pipe at Y,"Y, and Y, considerable heat is radiated therefrom into the car, and the opening in the roof being over the platform, there is no danger of water running through said opening and wetting the passengers.

In the old apparatus the heat radiated from the dome soon rendered the seat above the same uncomfortable, and the device, being situated at the mid-length of the car, was not at all times effective in warming the front portion thereof, on account of the draft caused by the motion of the vehicle. Furthermore, the feeddoor, being external, could not be got at without stopping the car,and therefore the tire was not kept at a uniform heat; but the present apparatus being placed at the front end of the aisle or passage-way, the draft produced by the motion of the car draws the warm airinto every part of the vehicle, and without heating any of the seats.

The feed-door F being convenient to the driver enables him to replenish the fire with- I out stopping the team.

When the cold weather is over, the partition E and its attached heater can be removed by simply taking out a few screws and bolts, after which act the regular door can be hung to the frame D.

I am aware that it is not new to fasten a heater byitsinclosiug-jacket to a partition fitted to the door-frame of a street-car and provide such a heater with an internal furnacedoor, that enables the fire to be replenished from the interior of the car, as this construction of apparatus is seen in Letters Patent No. 35,612, issued June 17, 1862, to J. B. Johnson; also, I am aware it is not new to locate a furnace beneath the floor of a car for thepurpose of warming the vehicle with hot water, and provide the apparatus with an external door, to enable the fire to be replenished by a person on the outside of the car, as this arrangement is seen in Letters Patent No. 144,425, is-- sued November 11, 1873, to J. H. Weibel.

Such being the state of the art, my claim is not designed to be construed as an attempt to cover the features seen in either of the abovenamed patents.

I claim as my invention- 1. A heater attached by its surrounding jacket to a partition securely fastened to the frame of the front door of a street-car, said heaterhaving an external furnace-door, to enable the driver to regulate the fire, and being situated wholly above the fioor of the car, so as to project partially in front of said fixed partition and partially in rear of the same, as herein described.

2. The combination of heater G K L P and jackets R S S T U U, attached to the partition E, which latter is secured within the frame D of the front door of a street-car, as herein described.

3. In combination with a car-heater attached to a partition, E, in the manner described, the smoke-pipeY, which is carried rearwardlyinto the car, thence upwardly atY, and out through said partition and roof at Y and Y, as herein described.

4. In combination with a heater surrounded by a jacket and situated partially Within a street-car and partially over the front platform of the same, the hangers W WV, attached to the door-frame and heater, and the feetX. X, secured to said heater and platform, as herein described.

In testimony of which invention I hereunto set my hand.

' GEORGE B. KEEPER.

Witnesses JAMES H. LAYMAN, L. H. BOND. 

